07/06/2012 - The protestant church of Germany recognizes global warming as a central challenge. “The climate problem touches the core of the Christian message”, said Bishop Markus Dröge, head of the Protestant Church Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz on the occasion of a visit at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “Preserving the integrity of creation is our mission.” It is all the more painful, he pointed out, that some of the successes of the development work achieved in the poorest countries of the world are being thwarted by climate change impacts.

Together with members of the church board Dröge listened to a talk of PIK's chief economist Ottmar Edenhofer about the global challenges of climate change and justice. “The atmosphere can be seen as a global common,” Edenhofer said. Thus the use of this common good as a disposal space for greenhouse gases needs to be regulated, he argued.

Future options for cooperation between the church and climate researchers were discussed by Bishop Dröge and PIK’s director Hans Joachim Schellnhuber. “As a general suspicion of science being alarmist is spooking the public, some scientists retreat to the ivory tower,” Schellnhuber said. This would be no option for PIK. “We offer our insight to everyone who is interested.”